


Centuries

by ThatPilotGirl



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Polyamory, Everything i write is bisexual polyamory, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, For The Moment, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Immortal Wives Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Multi, Queerplatonic Relationships, Team as Family, but the queerplatonic version this time, look they all just love each other a lot ok, or gets trapped at the bottom of the ocean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25837504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatPilotGirl/pseuds/ThatPilotGirl
Summary: They have spent centuries together, and they have eternity left
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 12
Kudos: 60





	Centuries

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own TOG but whoever does (cough rucka and netflix cough) need to announce that sequel

1\. It took them about 150 years to find each other. In dreams they saw the other pair, fighting and loving and living. Nicolo and Yusuf worked their way northeast, while Quynh and Andromache headed southwest. Eventually they met in the middle, somewhere in South Central Asia. 

"Nicky would you start the-"

Quynh already has the fire blazing.

"Ah. Thank you."

It's been about a week, and it's an adjustment going from two to four. Rhythms to be relearned, languages to parse out and mix. At least they don't have to hide their love here, in this copse of trees where they have been maintaining their camp. It's a welcome relief.

"We ought to go somewhere," Andromache says, as they eat dinner.

"Where?" Nicolo replies.

Already, it feels natural to default to her. She is so much older than them, and they are, relatively speaking, so new to this.

Quynh is the one to answer.

"Back the way you came from. Genghis Khan's descendants are trying to continue his work. They're headed towards Persia, Baghdad is the logical destination."

"Beautiful city," Yusuf says, "With the best sesame oil in the world."

"Southwest it is then. But you had to make us come all this way?"

"Had to see if you two could hack it" Andromache replies with a laugh.

"What's the verdict?"

"You'll do" Quynh teases.

2\. Fighting together came easily and after 75 years or so, Nicolo and Yusuf feel as much a part of her own body as Andromache does on the battlefield. Nicolo's bow is brutally accurate at range, and his skill with a longsword is impressive. Yusuf is a menace with his scimitar. Andromache has a nearly infinite amount of knives on her person at any given moment, as deadly up close as she is with her labrys. They are brutal and efficient, and Quynh doesn't worry about dying because immortality is somewhat irrelevant when no one can land a decent blow on any of them.

Now they are not fighting. It's a nice break.

Yusuf trims his beard. Andromache and Quynh wear their hair in the high buns that are customary to the area; it keeps the strands from sticking to the backs of their necks. The Queen here in Java is valiant and wise so trade is flourishing. There is always work to be found at the docks, and the food here is like nothing any of them have ever tasted.

"Andromache, _katresnan,_ pass me the sugar?" Quynh requests, as she cooks the sweet rice for dinner.

Instead, it is Nicolo who passes her the substance; he is also carrying a plucked duck. He must have slaughtered it just now before coming in from work.

"Does this mean I am your _katresnan_ now?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not." Andromache says. "And where is Yusuf?"

"Still at the docks. Apparently there is a festival tonight and he wanted to learn more."

"A festival?"

"For the _purnama._ He has abandoned me for his learning once more, leaving me to do all the work."

Quynh flicks rice at him and Nicolo drops the duck on a counter in favor of lifting Andromache to hold if front of him as a human shield. She laughs and squirms in his arms, but Quynh stops her barrage so Nicolo counts it as a win. He plops down in what was Andromache's seat, with her on his lap so he can continue to hide. She rolls her eyes but lets him, and Quynh goes back to the cooking. The food is ready by the time Yusuf does return, and they all eat together.

3\. The decades blend together after so many of them. They do not spend every moment together; there are periods when they split back into pairs. They never do it without a plan to reunite though, and the separations seem to go shorter and shorter as the time goes on. It becomes strange having fewer voices laughing at your jokes, fewer eyes watching your back, fewer mouths to cook for. This time, it was only nine weeks and now they are back together in Spain. They have not yet found a job, but Andromache believes that will change with the news she had just heard.

"The King and Queen have announced that all non-Catholics must convert or leave the country" she announces, striding in to their safehouse.

"What an original idea," Nicolo, no, he is Nicolas here, comments dryly.

Yusef-Joseph-snickers, but quiets quickly.

"People will not leave," he says

"This is their home" Quynh finishes.

She's been going by Flora at the moment, no direct line to her name available in Spanish. Andromache, for her part, has yet to introduce herself to anyone. A name is a precious thing even when it is temporary and she has not yet found one here she likes.

"They will need defenders. Trusted messengers. Spies." Andromache lists out.

"There is always a resistance," Joseph agrees with a nod, "I should be able to connect with people before they go underground"

Andromache nods her assent.

"You should go to church, see what the clergy are saying there," Flora tells Nicolas, "Andromache will return to the market try to gauge the general mood, and I'm going to see if any spare supplies we left here last time are still around."

"Meet back here at sunset?"

"Read my mind."

4\. Andromache and Quynh-Ailith and Rose at the moment- get to Bristol, England about a month before Nicholas and Joseph do. In hindsight, perhaps that was where the trouble started. Two woman, unmarried and traveling with no company but each other, have been known to raise eyebrows. They're all fairly out of the habit of paying attention to people's eyebrows though, so perhaps that is how Ailith and Rose missed the signs that they were starting to draw looks. They're busy though, spiriting away women who have been convicted and trying to sway public opinion to help those accused.

They have been in town for around two weeks when they themselves are convicted, and their first hanging is within a few days after that.

Time gets fuzzy then.

"I've never been burned alive before. What do you think it's gonna be like?"

"Excruciating."

If there is a painless way to die, they have not found it yet.

"Just you and me."

"Until the end."

The door opens and they take Rose from her chains and they are screaming for each other.

This is how Nicholas and Joseph find them, screaming for each other's true names as Quynh is loaded in to the iron maiden and on to the boat. There is no time to free Andromache before the boat sails, and if they wait to free her until they have freed Quynh, her tormentors might move her. They have to split up. It's their worst nightmare incarnate, but refusing to do so could mean a longer separation for Quynh and Andromache, and they will not inflict that upon the other half of them.

"London."

"London."

They kiss, briefly, in the alley where they are hiding and then Yusuf sprints for the boat and manages to sneak on with the last crowd of sailors while Nicolo goes the opposite way.

It’s still broad daylight, so Nicolo can’t do much to free Andromache without drawing the wrath of an entire town. He could fight his way through, sure, but that’s a lot of bodies to deal with and on his own, he might end up dying enough times to end up in the cell with her anyways. Instead, he bides his time. He rents a room at and inn in town and eats a hearty meal to fortify himself. He and Yusuf had not had time to do so before they separated. He bides his time for the rest of the day in his room, cleaning his weapons and worrying.

Yusuf mingles with the men on the boat, trailing after the iron maiden while attempting not to draw attention to himself. He sees Quynh’s eyes widen the moment that she notices him and inclines his head in her direction. It’s hard to tell within the walls of the iron maiden, but she seems to relax fractionally.

The first day, they sail westward. The crew mocks Quynh, eating near her and boasting of the things that wait for them on land. They are repulsive.

When night falls, he changes into his darkest clothing and heads towards the prison where they are keeping Andromache. He brings his pack; he has no intention of returning to the inn. It is the work of but a few minutes to find a guard with keys and knock him out. He unlocks every single cell until he finds her.

“You’re here. But Yusuf?”

“Has gone on to the ship. He will bring Quynh to us. We have to get to London, and they’ll meet us there.”

Andromache is so weak that standing is a chore; Nicolo gives her some of the bread from his pack. They leave under cover of darkness and make camp several miles out of town. They start on opposite sides of Nicky’s bag, but neither has slept alone in centuries.

“Come here.” Andromache says, after what feels like several hours of tossing and turning.

He crawls over, and she curls his body around him so they can finally rest.

The ship drops anchor after sundown, and the sailors head to their hammocks about an hour later. It’s now or never, they will likely drop her overboard the next day.

Quiet as he’s ever been, Yusuf first undoes the rope knots around the coffin, whispering comfort in every language he can bring to his lips. It is slow going. He cannot get caught.

When the ropes are gone, he picks the lock and pulls off the chains. This is slower work. The metal is heavy and loud and a single mistake spells both of their doom.

When the chains are off, there is nothing for it. He heaves the coffin open with an almighty roar, bring all three of the night watchman running. Thankfully, Quynh being free means he does not have to fight them alone and it only takes a moment to subdue them. Then, they steal a rowboat.

They sleep that way until they reach London.

Rowing all the way back to land is no easy feat. It takes them three days to have England back in sight, and they need to make landfall somewhere other than Bristol or the nightmare will start over. In the rowboat, they sleep with legs tangled together. The inland trek does not break them of the habit.

In the city they are Ailith and Nicholas again, and they are a married couple. They find a home with a spare bedroom under guise of needing a nursery soon. They lay low. They worry. They wait. They clean guns. They sharpen swords. They worry. They wait.

In London, Joseph asks after a room for himself and Rose. Alas! Ailith and Nicholas have lost their baby. Perhaps they will let the nursery?

The first night they are all together again, the first thing they do is sob. Quynh melts into Andromache's arms and Yusuf into Nicolo's. They split to the bedrooms to make love and to sleep, but midway through the night they are all staring at the ceiling. Eventually, Nicolo and Yusuf get up. Without saying a word, they go to the other bedroom. When they open the door, Andromache and Quynh are halfway out of bed. They lie back down and move over, lifting the covers. Yusuf climbs in next to Quynh, back to back, and Nicky curls up within his arms. Quynh's body surrounds Andromache's, which is closest to the door. They are together. They are safe. They sleep.

5\. They don't separate after that, not for more than a week or two at least. What nearly happened to Quynh was a brutal reminder of the horrors the world can hold for them; they will never feel that fear again. They will never let anyone do that to them again. They cook together, fight together, live together. 4 limbs of a body and 4 chambers of a heart. There are laughter and tears, battles lost and battles won. Countries and empires rise and fall. But always, always, there are the four of them.

(They have gotten a portrait made, every 100 years or so. Andromache sits in the front, Yusuf stands directly behind her. Nicolo stands to Yusuf's right, they hold hands on Andromache's right shoulder. Quynh stands on Yusuf's left, they hold hands on Andromache's left shoulder. The portrait never shows it, but Nicolo and Quynh have their hands clasped behind Yusuf's back. Always. They have the portrait as paintings, as wood carvings, as sculptures. They are scattered through the world at various safehouses. When a traveling photographer comes through, they get a new one made, and Andromache thinks it is her new favorite.)

**Author's Note:**

> There might be a follow up to this, im not sure yet  
> I don't know if I like this title?!?  
> PS the world needs more fanart of these four. Or like...any?!? I don't think I've seen a single piece with this group yet :(


End file.
